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Federal Policy Brief

This Policy Snapshot will give participants in the National Conference on Ending Homelessness an overview of key issues facing Congress this year, and how they will impact efforts to end homelessness. The Snapshot includes a description of budget deliberations, Issue Briefs on specific populations experiencing homelessness and how federal policy will affect them, and other important information about Congress and its role in ending homelessness.

You might have heard of the Homeless Children and Youth Act (S.256), which was introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein to address family and youth homelessness. The Alliance opposes this bill because it will not solve the housing problems of families and youth that it aims to, and makes significant changes to the homeless assistance system that are unnecessary, burdensome, and harmful. This document explains three detrimental impacts this bill would have and suggests alternative approaches to address the problems the bill aims to address.

This Policy Preview will help readers understand the most critical issues under consideration by the 114th Congress and by the Obama Administration in its last two years in office, and how those issues will impact the effort to end homelessness. It focuses on specific issues upon which advocacy can have an important and immediate impact, while framing those issues in the context of the current budget and program environment.

Congress should provide at least $2.480 billion for Homeless Assistance Grants in FY 2016. This funding level would cover the cost of the renewal demand and provide additional funding to meet the goal of ending chronic homelessness by the end of 2017, while helping communities to expand their ability to rapidly and permanently housing people experiencing homelessness.

The new approach to homelessness, adopted in many communities and backed by Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the past two Administrations, has already shown remarkable results. In the four years after annual point-in-time counts of homeless people began in early 2005, the number of Americans homeless on a given night dropped from 763,000 people to 643,000, a decrease of 16 percent. Perhaps even more remarkable, during the following period of economic difficulty homelessness continued to decline, albeit more slowly, even as unemployment skyrocketed over 10 percent and more Americans had trouble affording their own housing.

This policy brief provides information about the extent and consequences of chronic homelessness, and provides an overview of permanent supportive housing. It explains why this is the year to end chronic homelessness in America, and what HUD needs from Congress to do so.

On June 13, the Alliance submitted comments on the proposed regulations by Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) programs. The comments strongly encouraged ACF to promote RHYA programs’ coordination with other systems of care by joining local Continuums of Care and including youth in local Point-in-Time (PIT) counts, among others.

On June 23, the Alliance submitted comments on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposed rule for the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program. The proposed rule largely aligns the definitions, data collection, and reporting requirements with rapid re-housing programs within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which will ultimately lead to an SSVF program that is well integrated within the Continuum of Care.

This document summarizes the proposals included in the Obama Administration's fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget. This document compares the FY 2015 proposal to FY 2014 funding levels and is not adjusted for inflation.

This chart represents various funding levels (FY 2014 enacted, proposed by the President for FY 2015, passed through the House for FY 2015, and passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee for FY 2015).

SSVF provides the missing piece for VA to finally be able to end homelessness among veterans. Congress should continue to make ending homelessness among veterans a top priority by providing $1.641 billion for VA’s homeless veteran programs, including $500 million for the SSVF program in FY 2015.

This resource looks at new Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program (SSVF) funding opportunities. It provides tips for Continuums of Care (CoCs) to use in selecting an organization to receive Priority 1 funding under the new NOFA.

The very early years are critically important for the future health, education, and well-being of our nation’s children, but providing the developmental supports children require is challenging when families lack housing. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants Program invests in the future through quickly restoring children and their families to housing.

Veteran homelessness in the United States decreased 7 percent from 2011-2012 and 17 percent from 2009-2012. HUD programs have played a large role in this decrease, and will continue to be critical to future progress in ending veteran homelessness in the United States. This federal policy brief explains why.